1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jaw assembly mounted on a chuck of a lathe for facilitating quick and easy changeover of the jaw assembly for receiving a workpiece of one small diameter to a workpiece of another small diameter such as workpiece having diameters between 1/64" and 11/8".
2. Description of the related art including information disclosed under 37 CFR Sections 1.97-1.99
Heretofore it has been a common practice when changing over a jaw assembly for receiving a workpiece of one small diameter to a workpiece of another small diameter to mount soft jaw members on a chuck of a lathe, to move the jaws inwardly until the inner ends thereof are in contact with each other and then to drill or bore out the point of intersection of the jaw members a desired diameter bore so that each jaw member will have a concave partially cylindrical surface for mating with and gripping a workpiece positioned within the jaw members.
This procedure is time consuming e.g. it can take up to several hours and the soft jaws are often gradually consumed and eventually discarded.
As will be described in greater detail hereafter the master jaw assembly of the present invention provides a simple, quick and relatively inexpensive means for converting the master jaw assembly for receiving any desired small diameter workpiece such as in the range from 1/64" diameter to 11/8" diameter.